After troops of
North Korea invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950, the
United Nations Security Council adopted
Resolution 82 calling on North Korea to cease hostilities and withdraw to the
38th parallel. Two days later, the UNSC adopted
Resolution 83, recommending that members of the
United Nations provide assistance to the Republic of Korea "to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security to the area". The first non-Korean and non-U.S. unit to see combat was the
No. 77 Squadron of the
Royal Australian Air Force, which began escort, patrol and ground attack sorties from
Iwakuni Royal Australian Air Base, Japan on 2 July 1950. On 29 June 1950, New Zealand made preparations to dispatch two
Loch class frigates, and , to Korean waters; on 3 July, the ships left
Devonport Naval Base,
Auckland and joined other
Commonwealth forces at
Sasebo, Japan on 2 August. For the duration of the war, at least two NZ vessels would be on station in the theater.
Resolution 84, adopted on 7 July 1950, recommended that members providing military forces and other assistance to South Korea "make such forces and other assistance available to a unified command under the United States of America". President
Syngman Rhee of the Republic of Korea assigned operational command of ROK ground, sea, and air forces to General MacArthur as Commander-in-Chief UN Command (CINCUNC) on 15 July 1950: {{quote|In view of the common military effort of the United Nations on behalf of the Republic of Korea, in which all military forces, land, sea and air, of all the United Nations fighting in or near Korea have been placed under your operational command, and in which you have been designated Supreme Commander United Nations Forces, I am happy to assign to you command authority over all land, sea, and air forces of the Republic of Korea during the period of the continuation of the present state of hostilities, such command to be exercised either by you personally or by such military commander or commanders to whom you may delegate the exercise of this authority within Korea or in adjacent seas. the Ethiopian
Kagnew Battalion, the
French Battalion, the Greek
15th Infantry Regiment, New Zealand's
16th Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery, the
Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea, the South African
No. 2 Squadron SAAF, the
Turkish Brigade, and forces from Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Additionally, Denmark, India, Iran, Norway and Sweden provided medical units; Italy provided a hospital, even though it was not a UN member at the time. By 1 September 1950, less than two months before the formation of United Nations Command, these combined forces numbered 180,000, of which 92,000 were South Koreans, with most of the remainder being Americans, followed by the 1,600-man British 27th Infantry Brigade. Rockoff writes that "
President Truman responded quickly to the June invasion by authorizing the use of U.S. troops and ordering air strikes and a
naval blockade. He did not, however, seek a declaration of war, or call for full mobilization, in part because such actions might have been misinterpreted by Russia and China. Instead, on 19 July he called for partial mobilization and asked Congress for an appropriation of $10 billion for the war." Cohen writes that: "All of Truman's advisers saw the events in Korea as a test of American will to resist Soviet attempts to expand their power, and their system. The United States ordered warships to the
Taiwan Strait to prevent Mao's forces from invading
Taiwan and mopping up the remnants of
Chiang Kai-shek's army there." As of 1 July 1957 the commander of the United Nations Command was "triple hatted" being given command the
United States Forces Korea and
Eighth United States Army in addition to the UN command. The first commander to be "triple hatted" in this way was General
George Decker, who would later serve as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army. ==Commander==